2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Industry-Partnered Simulation for Construction Engineering Education: Implementation and Evaluation of the ASPE 11th Hour Bid Day Exercise
Presented at CONST 9 - Innovative Course Designs: From Materials Labs to Bid‑Day Simulations
Undergraduate cost estimating education often relies on static, single-iteration takeoff exercises that do not reproduce bid-day realities such as evolving addenda, incomplete proposals, scope gaps, and compressed decision timelines. As a result, students receive limited supported practice with clarifying scope, normalizing subcontractor proposals, and assembling a defensible total within a fixed window, and students have few structured touchpoints with practicing estimators.
This work-in-progress paper describes the implementation and preliminary evaluation of an 11th Hour Bid Day simulation adapted from the American Society of Professional Estimators (ASPE) for undergraduate engineering education. The activity was delivered during Fall 2025 in an upper-division Project Planning and Regulation course at a public university in the southern United States, with direct participation of ASPE Orlando Chapter 50 professionals serving as facilitators and subcontractor representatives. The simulation engaged student teams in analyzing multiple rounds of subcontractor proposals under strict time limits while conducting live clarifying question-and-answer sessions with industry professionals.
Assessment of student performance among the 31 participating students revealed a bimodal distribution of outcomes, with two teams achieving accuracy within 2% of the target value while three teams exhibited systematic errors resulting in approximately 67% negative deviation due to incomplete scope capture and missing add-ons. One team submitted 236% above target due to cost aggregation errors, and one team was disqualified for late submission. Post-simulation survey data indicated high perceived realism (87% positive) and improved process understanding (90% positive), yet more diffuse confidence levels (67% positive), suggesting the simulation promoted metacognitive awareness of the complexity inherent in professional estimating practice. Student feedback consistently identified direct engagement with industry professionals for proposal clarification as the most valuable component, transforming their understanding from passive document review to active negotiation and scope verification. Time pressure emerged as a double-edged factor that promoted focus yet increased error risk. Students recommended clearer pre-briefings, additional facilitators to reduce question bottlenecks, modestly longer analysis windows, and explicit guidance on final price compilation.
The simulation successfully bridged academic instruction and industry practice through professional society partnership, exposing students to realistic bid-day conditions within a class period. Performance analysis revealed that foundational concepts in bid normalization and scope verification require additional instructional emphasis prior to future simulation exercises. This work-in-progress contributes a replicable model for integrating industry-validated simulations into construction engineering curricula and provides preliminary evidence of learning outcomes and implementation considerations for educators interested in adopting similar industry-partnered experiential learning approaches.
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Mr. Andrew John Kleimola Accenture | I&CP [biography]
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Raissa Seichi Marchiori The University of Alabama [biography]
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Mrs. Shalena A Thomas American Society of Professional Estimators [biography]
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Sai Bharadwaj Reddy Chandupatla Accenture Infrastructure & Capital Projects [biography]
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